In the vast rolling plains of Salkhit, 45 miles outside the capital of Ulan Bator a work crew are busy bending large metal cables into an elaborate, squat structure. Once complete and with a turbine the length of a football field inserted into the top, it will form a key part of the first wind farm to operate in this coal-rich but infrastructure-poor Asian country.

Over the next month, 31 wind turbines will go into operation across this isolated site, supplying an impressive 5% of the nation current power needs. More importantly, those involved are hoping it will kick-start a clean energy revolution in a country in dire need of non-polluting energy sources.

Mr Bayanjargal Byambasaikhan CEO of Newcom Group the company behind the project said “We have a vision to transform Mongolia into a clean energy powerhouse of Asia.”

Mongolia actually has all of the natural advantages that could make it one of the key sources of clean energy in the world:

1. High plateaus with constant winds
2. Vast, sparsely inhabited plains that could be developed without too much disruption to traditional herder’s lives
3. Strong sunlight even in the bleak winter months.

Mr Neal Detert an American project manager at Clean Energy LLC in Mongolia said “In Mongolia you have large expenses of land, you've got more than 300 days per annum of sunlight and fairly constant wind. So it’s got basically the perfect trifecta for renewable energy in the world.”

The problem is that Mongolia’s past, present and future are indelibly tied to coal. The black carbon fuel drives the economy and is the country’s major export. It also made Ulan Bator, by some people’s reckoning, the most polluted capital city in the world last winter.

Ms Christa Hasenkopf a research fellow at the University of Colorado who is studying pollution in Ulan Bator said “I had seen the pollution numbers before arriving, but living here is a whole different experience.”

Source - globalpost

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